The
U.S. air force has been poisoning the drinking water
supply in Tucson, Arizona, a city home to more
than half a million people.
For
decades, it has been poisoning water sources with
volatile organic compounds and "forever chemicals" (also
called PFAS) — to the point where a large area outside
of Tucson was declared a "Superfund site." This
designation is only used on the country's most polluted,
most dangerous sites.
But now the Air Force
is refusing to clean up its
pollution. In fact, it's
claiming that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) has no right to hold the military
accountable, after a recent Supreme Court
decision gutted government agencies' regulatory
abilities.
In
June, the current Court's right-wing majority overturned
40 years of previous court decisions and legal precedent
to curtail the EPA and other agencies' abilities
to do their jobs and keep the public
safe. This will hurt prevent
agencies from regulating important sectors like
the environment, workplace safety, food safety, public
health, and more.
Everyone deserves to
have safe, clean drinking water. That's why the EPA
stepped in and demanded the Air Force clean up its toxic
mess. But if the Air Force continues to refuse... what
then?
This
is why we need a federal law codifying the rights and
powers of regulatory agencies, including the EPA. That
is the only thing that can undo this nasty mess. Sign the petition to demand
the U.S. Congress pass a law clearly strengthening and
concretizing the EPA's
authority!
